Bandit: Creeping Darkness
by Trakyan
Summary: One loss follows another, momentum gathers and even the highest will sink low -but even the lowest can be heros. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, my take on it.


_****_Ok, a new story started, dont ask why. When my pen drive was sat on i lost alot of story ideas, but one about a quilava stayed in my memory(albeit it was different) so i felt i needed to publish this. I'll probably publish the original later, this is a side story so dont expect regular updates. There will be sequeals though: The Skies Above, Time Gone By, Space Un Filled. Not nessecarily in that order... im no good with planning which explains why my storylines suck.

_**Drowning In Sorrow**_

I cast a look at the totem posts on either side of the guild. The guild from here was a giant pink tent depicting a wigglytuff with its giant, pink rabbit ears. Something about it made me uneasy, maybe the fact its mouth was the entrance. Infront of me was a grate sitting over what looked like a well lined by stones.

"The grate," I whispered, I'd heard many of a story of a shout coming from below from those who'd tried to join the guild-most had been let in after the guild came under new ownership.

"Hurry up and step on it!" a rather unwelcome voice shouted from the hole. Getting in was a popularity thing now, I was anything but popular.

My blue figure stepped over the grate.

"You're a… buizel!" the voice shout up, I growled, two flames blazed alight on my back, illuminating the tunnel below. A now grim faced hound looked up at me, it had a blue head with two droopy appendages that resembled ears, a small golden collar separated the head from a black torso. His waist to his knees was covered in thick blue fur resembling baggy shorts, below that were slim black legs with a long step. Two blue arms stood cross over his chest with silver studs at the wrists.

"Do I look like a buizel?" I shouted at the riolu.

"Get lost, Alex!" he shouted back up, I blasted a short ranged flame down the hole. I never expected to get in, but it was worth a try, "Get lost before we go out there and beat you to a pulp!"

I stepped off the grate with a sigh. I wasn't one to pick a fight, I couldn't hold my own, anyway. They'd beaten me blue-well, bluer- before.

"You better run!" he shouted, I wish he'd be more original. I walked away with as much dignity as I could muster after that.

Over at the beach, I could relax there. It wasn't a popular spot, I guess that's why I often found myself there. It was my place, despite how anti a fire type the scene was. A humid wind, salt spray and sheer cliffs in every direction bar the small crevice that made the path to here. That and a cave sitting opposite. I'd explored it a few times, most ended in me waking unconscious at it's entrance.

It was full of wild and aggressive pokemon, all either part rock or water in type-sometimes booth. It was a quilava's worst nightmare. To my dismay; what seemed like a walking pink coral walked out of the cave. I somersaulted, a curtain of fire leaking out of my mouth and cloaking me as I rolled towards the ground, a firey spray of embers lashed out from my burning wheel.

I broke from my roll a few meters ahead of the corsola. I kicked off from the ground and launched a five point star of flames from the air. The firey roar escaped my lips and fell purposely short of it's otherwise intended subject. I knew an ember out of place, and ember to touch the corsola, and I'd be in a desperate fight I couldn't win.

I landed before the flames cleared, adrenalin pumping through my veins. I was hoping the attack would scare it. My fire attacks themselves wouldn't do a thing to it, I couldn't let it know that. It was gone by the time the flames had cleared. I let out a sigh of relief, the one time the only good attack was a missed one.

"Yo, brat, we saw you coming from the guild," a voice spoke up from behind me, it was a hearty laugh. I turned around. It was a big purple balloon, a big grin plastered above a skull and cross bone insignia, puffs of green and yellow smoke were escaping through small craters in the koffing.

"Yeah, we don't know why they rejected you, after what we just saw they shoulda been beggin' you to join!" his partner shouted-or rather choked- through a puff of toxic smoke. A blue bat, no eyes, and two slender spikes for legs.

"Getting in is a popularity thing," I told them with a shrug, "And that wouldn't have done a thing even if I'd tried to hit the corsola," I admitted.

"Yeah, but that was a corsola, it would have roasted anything short!" the zubat screeched in its rather unpleasant to the ear voice.

"No it wouldn't," I sighed, "I don't any firepower," coils of black smoke poured from my nostrils.

"You're clever if nothing else, guile, very," the koffing chuckled. I allowed myself a little smile at this compliment.

"Thanks," I reached with a paw to the red spots at the back of my head, "My name's Alex,"

"Soren, this is Erik," he turned to the zubat-Erik.

"We want you to join our team," Erik screeched- I wished another puff of smoke would bring him back to a cough.

"You'd be an excellent team member. We're explorers, hunting for treasures and lost places," Soren explained, "Our leader is a skuntank, Kaeren, I'm sure he'll agree."

"I'd love to!" I exclaimed, I'd have added 'I won't let you down' but it seemed cliché, that and I wasn't sure I could live up to that promise.

"Well why don't we celebrate?" the koffing grinned, I grinned back.

"I'd offer you a hot meal in my den, but it won't be very hot, or much of a meal," I shrugged in an attempt to socialize. One thing I wasn't good at, I was probably and expert on avoiding it, though.

"We've got plenty of food," Erik screeched- a puff of smog drifted into his face.

"Come on," the koffing ordered and he and his partner began to fly up the cliff. I took in a deep breath and ran to the nearest palm which I climbed in bounds before launching myself at the wall. My forepaws grasped a crook in the cliff which I used to throw myself up to another as if on a bungee cord, my hind paws kicked up and off any ledge they could find as I struggled to keep up.

"Who's that?" a voiced called out from the beach, my companions froze and I nearly threw myself into Erik. We looked down in sync to see a brown lizard walking across the beach, by the skull helmet and femur he was twirling in his right hand I recognized him as Tal, he was one of the few pokémon that I could get along with, well, get along with aren't the right words-one of the few people that didn't hate me, maybe. Though it wasn't him I was interested in, there was a limp body lying across from him on the beach.

A bipedal hound of sorts, it's torso and waist were black and blue respectively with a pattern of spikes between them. The blue around his waist formed a pair of baggy shorts that ended at his knee to reveal lightly built legs. Though the arms caught my eye, in the place of the silver domes that should have been on his blue wrists were jet black teardrops. Other than that he had the expectable golden collar, pointy blue ears with black appendages below them and a black mask from which two eyes were blinking open.

He wasn't from around here, maybe we could start a club, I thought sarcastically.

"Look at that thing around the cubone's neck," Soren told us, I knew what he meant, it was a small stone fragment Tal kept around his neck. It looked like it had been chipped from some old inscription, the design was beyond anyone in the guild-no surprise, nowdays. There was that rumour people were spreading, one of those 'a long time ago' rumours, about some human turned pokémon and his partner who had a stone relic. Me? I thought it was bogus.

"He probably won't be able to use it to find anything, he'd lose it under his hay," Erik whispered, or rather, screeched somewhat quietly. Ordinarily I'd have agreed, but he was one of the pokémon I'd class as competent.

"We could use it to find all sorts of treasure," Soren agreed thoughtfully.

"Suppose so," I agreed.

We made our way silently down the cliff side as Tall went to the riolu's aid, eventually we reached it's based and came out onto the stretch of beach behind them.

"Hand us over that relic," Soren demanded, it drew the duo's attention.

"It's mine!" Tal protested.

"We'd make much better use of an artefact like that," Erik shot back, I saw the riolu wince as the sound reached his ears.

"But-" Tal was cut off.

"It's his, who's gonna make him hand it over? You?" he pointed at Soren, "You're a gassball, you're friend is a blind zubat!" the riolu proclaimed, I hated him already. I'd had enough. I stepped off the rock and a plume of fire rolled out of my mouth and twisted through the air until it broke against the duo before either turned to see me. Several more more precise blasts followed, never leaving time for the last to disperse before striking it's target.

But as I'd feared, after the flames cleared the duo was left standing. Scorched, but standing. It didn't matter. I ran at Tal-he had his eyes covered, maybe burned-, weaving my way around the riolu who took a stance to defend him before grabbing the thong that hung around his neck. My rear paws kicked off and a forepaw planted on Tal's skull helmet as I somersaulted over his head, plucking the relic from around his neck.

"Looky here," I growled over my shoulder. I didn't have time to turn around before I felt two sets of teeth clamp around my neck, "Ahh!"

"Give. It. Back!" the riolu growled through my fur, a paw slammed against my back and made my fall to my knees.

He released with his teeth and let me fall. I fell face first against the sand below, my paws went under me as I searched for a rock. Found one.

"Hand it over you thief," the riolu growled.

"You couldn't make use of it," I shot back, though I wasn't sure how I could, either.

"Leave him alone," Soren growled, I took my queue. I rolled face up and threw the stone in an underhand pass before darting off.

"Let's go," I urged my newfound companions before disappearing through the mouth of the cave, the air seemed thicker for a moment as I passed under the entrance.

"There goes the relic," Erik screeched, though somewhat lower in pitch.

"This one?" I dangled the string that held the real relic out in front of me.

"Guile," the koffing repeated with a grin. We hurried through the dungeon, ordinarily I rarely found the second floor-a stone doorway of sorts that looks normal, save for the liquid ripples on it's surface- except this time water types fell in turn as static arced towards them from Soren's body, I saw a sort of barnacle coming up, a lileep. Electricity wouldn't even tickle it, I knew.

I drew up my fist, a pale wispy aura began to curl around it as Erik bolted at the lileep, an intense blue aura cloaked around him as he tucked his wings, it burst into a brilliant red just a moment before the impact as he spread his wings and crashed into the grass type. I leapt through the smoke screen he left in his wake. My paws touched down in front of the lileep where I crouched to absorb the shock. I arched my back and planted an uppercut on the underside of the flowerbud head.

The stem went slack as the lileep lost consciousness. Something the local dojo master, Tal's dad, taught me. Kept repeating the word focus when he was teaching me, eventually I started to focus after I droned out his insistent instructions, and it worked.

"Lookout!" Erik screeched, for once I was thankful for that voice. A clatter of coral on stone behind me gave me a location. I slid to the side to dodge a predicted attack-an obvious jet of water- before turning to face my attacker.

In a burst of speed I found myself behind the brown shelfish with one paw reared; the kabuto turned around in time for me to plant the focus punch on it's forehead.

"All fine here," I replied.

We cleared the second floor with ease, then a third, a fourth, then a dead end.

"Now what?" Soren asked.

"No idea…" I murmured, "I've never been here, I thought it led to some exit somewhere else."

"Well then we just wait and beat those two pipsqueaks when they get here," Erik screeched.

"Ye-" a blue sphere crashed into my side. I felt the force of the shock wave tossed me away as the aura dissipated, the last I could remember was hitting a wall, then falling, a boulder blocked my view of what had happened as consciousness slipped.

The sun cast a crimson glow over my face as I woke up, I was behind a boulder on the beach, it was sunset. The relic still hung around my neck. I groaned as I stood up, my left side was raw and blistered from whatever knocked me out. _One attack,_ I thought to myself, _Man I'm pathetic, the whole town knows it. Why do I deny it?_

I limped up the path that led to town, halfway up pausing to hide the relic somewhere before continuing on. There was a wobbafet and a wynaut, two blue blobs would be the best way to describe them, at the end of the steps, they blabbed on like lunatics about something coming up.

Heading towards the town and just ahead of me was another quilava, she was a girl, I think, and her parents-two typhlosion, like me except bigger and had red spots only around their neck like a collar. The local real estate agent-or home thief as I liked to call him- would try to sell them my den if I wasn't there. I jogged ahead, it was a rather awkward action given that I stumbled every three steps and fell over every five.

"You ok?" a voice -female- called out as I passed the family, the quilava was a girl. I ignored them and pressed on. I ran past the little stall between the link shop and bank where a ledian was on the watch.

"You better not!" I growled at the hovering ladybug, he shrugged back. I cut through town to the cliffs on the other side, sharpedo bluff they were called. Sneaking under the bush that covered the entrance just ahead of the cliff I made my way down the crevice and into my den. Inside was, well, like looking from the inside of a sharpedo's mouth.

As far as furnishings went it was a pile of hay for a bed, some crates I'd gathered off the beach, food sacks full of scraps I'd foraged and the shipment of goods and food I'd found that one time stacked in a corner, I saved the good stuff for special occasions or when I'd need it most.

Soren and Erik, what happened to them I wonder, they should've have been able to beat the riolu, probably Tal, too, out of natural advantage. They must've. Then forgotten about me or left, or just not cared. I knew it was too good to last.

"Ahh, I have the perfect place, a quilava used to live here, I'm sure you'll love it," a voice came from upstairs-outside. I launched a stream of fire through the crevice, adding to the thick layer of soot that covered the walls, there was a yip at the other end.

"I guess there still is?" a motherly laugh came through, "Maybe you two can become friends?" the voice added more quietly, probably to someone beside her.

I tried a discouraging growl, of course I was still a growing quilava and it didn't quite have that typhlosion ring to it-or rumble, rather.

"He's more vicious than he sounds," the ledian tried to defend his pride. I grinned, that squeak didn't seem so bad now.

"I'm sure he is, a little quilava that still meows," the motherly tone turned into more of a taunt, "And I'm sure he has his reasons for wanting to roast you to a crisp," she hissed.

"He's a thieving brat, done nothing but since he came to this town, a sore to look at, piece of filth!" the ledian shot back in the usual townsfolk response to me.

"Say another word and he won't be the one roasting you," a quiet, yet perfectly menacing, growl came through the crevice, "I've he's such a thief how come the guild hasn't brought him to justice?"

"He's a _sly_ piece of filth," the ledian growled back.

"The guild's a run down piece of filth," a new voice shot back, I vaguely recognized it. A moment later came a grunt and the ledian sailed into view over the cliff. He managed to slow to a hover just over the level of the floor, a few meters out to sea.

"Speaking of the runt," he smirked, that did it. I launched myself in his direction, rolling through the air as flames leaked from my mouth to form a fire wheel around me. I hit the ground and kept rolling, every faster towards the ledian. I was too enraged to notice him move, missing the seconds I could have stopped in. Then I went, over the edge.

The ground fell away, for a moment I was rolling through the air before I went into freefall and the inferno around me blew away. I settled back first in my free fall. I launched a fireball, the biggest I could muster while tears hovered off my eyes. He dodged it effortlessly and fired a taunt down at me, I didn't care.

My body hit the water with a solid slap, the flames on my back went out as I sank into the quiet, deadly blue. I saw three faces from my evolution family peer over the edge before the murky water dowsed my vision.

I wouldn't give up now, that's what they wanted me to do. Strange, all these years, it wasn't me keeping on because it was what I needed for me, it was so they wouldn't get what they wanted. Makes me sound horrible. With my grim resolve carved deep I kicked through the water and propelled myself around the bluff. What? I'd probably need the skill at some point, and the water was a foolproof escape from the misery –plus, I had to learn it sometime, better in my own time than when I'm drowning.

I swam past the town and over to the beach where I stepped out and onto a rock, whatever water that had soaked me through was gone in the first two steps. I wouldn't be going back to the bluff, not until well past nightfall at least; I couldn't take any more of this today.

I lay down against the weatherworn boulder, I'd be alone here. Tomorrow I'd need to head back into the dungeon, my food stocks were running low. After the encounter with the ledian no one would sell me anything the next few days, I'd be living off oran berries and stockpiling whatever poké I could find until they would. _Joy of life_, I rolled my eyes.

...

Chapter one, i kind of liked the mystery dungeon part. Sorry if this is poorly edited, i have three copies of this; one has the proper content as a finished product and the others are ideas crammed into a word document, i edited one of the three...


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